I hope I don't jinx us...

but I think we're really going to Haiti this year. It's been a crazy journey- personality and power conflicts galore, two team members dropping out due to job offers (or potential job offers), and shifting to September because of how quickly it had all fallen apart.

Now it looks like we have a smaller but committed team (one member wants to go but needs to check with her doctor to be sure it's okay), a new direction and a new time.

I have mixed feelings. I do want to see our partnership with Haiti move forward. I was hoping we would go back to Pardieu this year, but there was a push for exploring other things Haiti, so we're doing that. It should give us a bigger picture about what's happening, which is ultimately good. It would be fun to leave the country and to get immersed again in the craziness of another culture.

I keep my eye on the problems we're having, at the same time, and wonder if this is really the right time. It's been so good not to have anything major looming over my summer, as has been the case the last couple of years (and probably quite a number more, come to think of it). It's been a crazy year for me emotionally with all sorts of family issues going on. I would just like to rest. Yes, going to Haiti is technically running off to a Caribbean island, but it isn't in the same, restful kind of mindframe that that kind of trip usually generates.

We'll be meeting on Sunday to work on moving forward.